The Madibeng municipal landfill near Brits is in shambles and refuse is being dumped in access roads, threatening a complete collapse of refuse collection in Brits and Hartbeespoort.

“There is nowhere to dump the refuse anymore. According to information, the contractor responsible for compacting the refuse, has not been paid and he stopped doing the work,” a refuse removal contractor said.

Upon enquiry, the Madibeng municipality admitted this week that “the current state of the landfill is unacceptable.”

“This has been the best performing site in the province and we are working around the clock to get it back to its former state,” said municipal spokesperson, Tumelo Tshabalala.

“The current state is mainly caused by the fact that our specialised machinery operating the site has been broken for some time and in the interim we hired a contractor whose contract lapsed in October. Due to unforeseen internal circumstances we were not able to service the site optimally to acceptable standards,” he said.

“The municipality is treating the matter with the urgency it deserves and will have the necessary machinery by the end of this month to start servicing the site.”